Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume7 Chapter5 (section)

===Part 2===

Claire and Ellis blocked the three incoming elementalists.

Rao of the Azure Dragon wielded an azure dragon blade. Hakua of the Black Tortoise had a shield. On the other hand, Rion of the Vermilion Bird used a club. The three readied the elemental waffen manifested from their respective divine beast spirit.

"Excuse me, but you are not allowed to take a further step forward!"

Yelling out, Claire swung Flametongue.

Fianna's ritual kagura dance was not yet complete. Until Kamito could hurry here to reinforce them, Claire and Ellis had to guard this location with their lives.

Rao of the Azure Dragon sprang into action and charged with the azure dragon blade horizontally. Seeing that, Ellis wielded Ray Hawk to intercept and blocked the swung azure dragon blade with her spear.

Demonic wind gathered and rumbled at the tip of her spear.

"--Evil winds, go and rampage!" 

As Rao swiftly retreated, Ellis released blades of wind towards her.

Innumerable blades sliced apart the ground. However, just as the wind blades were about to strike their target--

Wielding the shield of the Black Tortoise, Hakua rushed over. Instantly deflected, the wind blades dissipated without trace. That was most likely a defense oriented spirit with the earth attribute, hence a half-baked attack was not going to succeed.

"Freezing fangs of ice, go forth and pierce -- Freezing Arrow!"

From the rear guard, Rinslet fired numerous freezing arrows.

--However, this time it was Rao's turn to stand before Hakua, sweeping all of the freezing arrows aways.

As expected of the highly renowned Four Gods. Their teamwork and coordination were on a completely different level.

"O Flames, capture my enemies -- Flame Chain!"

Claire swung Flametongue to entangle the cutting edge of the azure dragon blade.

She intended to immobilize the enemy's weapon in this manner.

"Foolish, water with its ever-changing multitude of forms can never be imprisoned!"

The blade of water vanished for an instant. Then turning the hilt of the azure dragon blade, Rao regenerated a new blade.

"Now it's my turn, Onee-chan!"

Aiming for the opening when Claire was withdrawing her flaming whip, Hakua rushed forward with her shield.

Rather than for defending -- this time she was using the shield as a close quarter combat weapon.

"O Earth, may thy roars resound -- Earth Blast!"

Crying out, Hakua struck the ground with her elemental waffe, the shield.

Earth attribute spirit magic instantly activated. The ground swelled up, scattering dust clouds. Rather than for causing direct damage, this was an attack aiming to disrupt enemy vision.

"Take this, scorching--"

"Too late."

Just as Claire tried to release a fireball preemptively, Hakua's figure appeared before her.

Instantly charging into her face, Hakua unleashed a punch that exploded in Claire's chest.

"Guh, ahhh...!"

The heavy blow instantly rendered Claire's consciousness hazy. Like Shao, Hakua was also a practitioner of the Fist of Assassination.

With Claire blown away by the impact, Hakua rushed forward for a follow up attack -- However, Rinslet's freezing arrows halted her advance.

Probably because it was troublesome to handle demonic ice which was able to freeze the shield, Hakua chose to escape instead of defending. Using this opening, Claire readied her stance once more to use Flametongue to hinder enemy movements.

"Too naive, Miss Hell Cat."

"...!?"

Rion of the Vermilion Bird wielded a crimson club as she charged through the openings in the trajectory of the brandished Flametongue.

Turning her elemental waffe, the club, with one hand, she entangled the fiery Flametongue.

"I can't believe she's absorbing Scarlet's flames...!?"

"Hmph, my divine beast spirit Vermilion Bird is indeed a flame spirit servant!"

The crimson club left Rion's hands and transformed into a flaming demonic bird.

Having absorbed Scarlet's flames, the gigantic demonic bird spread its wings in the air.

"Ooh, as expected of a renowned divine beast spirit..."

"Even their cooperation far surpasses us."

The three members of the Four Gods naturally surrounded Claire and Ellis who were now standing back to back.

The situation was overwhelmingly unfavorable to Claire's team. While Claire and Ellis were being dominated by their opponents' teamwork, Kamito who was in charge of attack was also tied up with Shao Fu. Even though Linfa did not seem like the type who fought on the frontlines, users of ritual magic often had contracts with powerful spirits. This meant leaving her alone could prove to be quite dangerous.

(Fianna, we're relying on you...)

Claire momentarily turned her gaze towards Fianna who was performing a dance in the back.